About Susan

Born in Brooklyn, NY with a love of the outdoors and a desire to share her passion for adventure with others, Susan began guiding family, friends and community groups on nature trails almost 25 years ago.  In 2001, Susan founded the Learning Garden at Oak Street School, a place where children had the opportunity to help feed the homeless through planting and harvesting crops. By 2002, her passionate hobby grew into a profession as she launched, Earth Speak Adventures leading hundreds of people on outdoor excursions through North and South America and Africa. In 2015, Alchemy Outdoors LLC was born through Susan’s own evolutionary process of transformation and a commitment to serve and awaken the whole through the avenue of nature.

When not on the trails, Susan continues to be a woman in motion! Running her first marathon at the age of 40, Susan has become an avid runner and often competes in marathons and endurance events worldwide including a race around the western rim of the Grand Canyon and another through the Redwoods in Northern 

California as well as several Ironman Triathlon competitions, and 50 miles trail races. Her most recent competition in Madagascar was a seven-day, 155-mile, self-supported running race across dangerous terrain and extreme temperatures, carrying all her provisions on her back. For Susan, it's never about competing, but rather about a "way of Being" in the experience that is fully present and aware physically, mentally and spiritually, connected to oneself and the group as a whole.

When at home in New Jersey, Susan enjoys spending quality time with her husband Bill and their two children. Her other passions include cooking healthy, delicious, peasant-style meals for family and friends, painting the natural world around her in watercolor, gardening, writing and of course, traveling and exploring new or familiar destinations home and abroad.